Gran Turismo 7 Review: Return of the King

[Kinna39]

Question for @Jordan: can you still have braking cones like in GTS? Or have they been completely replaced with the braking zone? I'd much prefer the subtlety of the cones personally.

And thanks for the review!

 

[KilzoneStrife]

Exactly :

Dynamic time of day = all tracks
24hr cycle = endurance tracks
Dynamic weather (without rain) = all tracks
Rain = some tracks

Really impressive. After Sport was so restrictive with track choices, and GT6 being the last game with time of day changes, this is truly the GT we all deserve. 👏

What exactly is dynamic weather without rain? 🤔

@Jordan I do apologize if this has been answered. But I heard some other publications complain earning credits is "really hard" and they said you can't sell vehicles.

How easy was it to earn credits? (does there seem to be a race we can grind for credits for the 20 mil cars?)
Do we get credits for selling cars?

Thanks in advance man. 🙂

 

[Samus]

Question for @Jordan: can you still have braking cones like in GTS? Or have they been completely replaced with the braking zone? I'd much prefer the subtlety of the cones personally.

And thanks for the review!

Cones aren't an option, someone streaming checked a couple of hours ago. In terms of markers it's just those little yellow markers, plus driving line of course. The braking zones are a different aid.

Curiously though as you can see at the bottom the text help does talk about cone markers. So maybe it's some kind of bug that they're not actually available. Or they got rid of them and forgot to update the text.

 

[Kinna39]

Cones aren't an option, someone streaming checked a couple of hours ago. In terms of markers it's just those little yellow markers, plus driving line of course. The braking zones are a different aid.

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Curiously though as you can see at the bottom the text help does talk about cone markers. So maybe it's some kind of bug that they're not actually available. Or they got rid of them and forgot to update the text.

Interesting... welp, may just have to start using some real points of reference I guess 😅

 

[praiano63]

I'm in for PS4 version ,just to check myself about physics , seeing the late tests some (Vip) on youtube , it could be good. Let's see friday.
No VR for PS5 is a real shame. PS5 graphics during a race don't seems a lot superior than PS4 pro or even PS4. Just more people beside the track and more vegetation ..... i don't mind for the moment.

 

[ferhound]

Delete please.

 

[GingerBredMan]

Do we have an official car & track list yet?

 

[Vspectra]

Nice review, thanks Jordan!

Hope Kaz / Polyphony sees more complaints of the boring "chase the rabbit" rolling starts. Grid starts already works fine in the custom races and some campaign races even have standing grid starts, it's such a weird and outdated design decision to focus again on rolling starts with cars massively spread out.

Question for @Jordan: can you still have braking cones like in GTS? Or have they been completely replaced with the braking zone? I'd much prefer the subtlety of the cones personally.

And thanks for the review!

Yeah, the cones were great and way more immersive than a fake hovering yellow marker that's in your face.

 

[Samus]

Do we have an official car & track list yet?

Not official, as in posted on the GT site no. But the ones on this site are 100% complete and accurate to what is in the game right now.

 

[Famine]

Do we have an official car & track list yet?

Official? No, but the ones in the Guide and pinned in this forum are complete.

 

[ScottPuss20]

The best Gran Turismo to date? BIG CLAIM. One thing that concerns me is the physics and saying that it's "a minor iteration from GT Sport" doesn't fill me with much hope. It suggests to me that the issues seen in GT Sport will still persist. Please tell me I'm wrong.

 

[z71L28]

Sadly, seems like you still can't remove arms and steering wheel in cockpit view. Thought they would have implemented this in GT7 since all modern racing sims have this option.

 

[Kean_1]

The best Gran Turismo to date? BIG CLAIM. One thing that concerns me is the physics and saying that it's "a minor iteration from GT Sport" doesn't fill me with much hope. It suggests to me that the issues seen in GT Sport will still persist. Please tell me I'm wrong.

......read other reviews. The experience of some others is that they feel the physics are a big step up from GT Sport. It's obvious not everyone is coming away with the same perspective on certain aspects.

 

[linksracer]

The best Gran Turismo to date? BIG CLAIM. One thing that concerns me is the physics and saying that it's "a minor iteration from GT Sport" doesn't fill me with much hope. It suggests to me that the issues seen in GT Sport will still persist. Please tell me I'm wrong.

Not sure if you've seen Super GT's review yet?
As other people have stated, he goes a bit more in depth on the physics changes for GT7 vs GT Sport.

Other members have said that the Team VVV review is more in depth for physics than most of the reviews, however I haven't watched that video yet so I can't confirm that.

 

[RockerBauer]

Can we completely turn off the cockpit cam movement?

 

[Kean_1]

Yeah, the cones were great and way more immersive than a fake hovering yellow marker that's in your face.

Yeah, that's a shame seeing some of those new driving aid elements being implemented IMO. I liked the cones too as they were subtle and not distracting. I didn't have an intimate knowledge of all braking zones on all tracks and this was a great reminder without the arcadish feel. I guess now I'm going to have to get used to not using them since I hate overlays, floating icons, etc.

 

[05XR8]

The best Gran Turismo to date? BIG CLAIM. One thing that concerns me is the physics and saying that it's "a minor iteration from GT Sport" doesn't fill me with much hope. It suggests to me that the issues seen in GT Sport will still persist. Please tell me I'm wrong.

Someone posted a video of the Clio RS showing oversteer. It’s possible physics have been improved for FF cars. We’ll have to see at midnight.

 

[Famine]

The best Gran Turismo to date? BIG CLAIM. One thing that concerns me is the physics and saying that it's "a minor iteration from GT Sport" doesn't fill me with much hope. It suggests to me that the issues seen in GT Sport will still persist. Please tell me I'm wrong.

......read other reviews. The experience of some others is that they feel the physics are a big step up from GT Sport. It's obvious not everyone is coming away with the same perspective on certain aspects.

Not sure if you've seen Super GT's review yet?
As other people have stated, he goes a bit more in depth on the physics changes for GT7 vs GT Sport.

Other members have said that the Team VVV review is more in depth for physics than most of the reviews, however I haven't watched that video yet so I can't confirm that.

My general impression is that it is indeed still very GT Sport-like to drive. I don't think anything major has happened in general vehicle or world physics. Overall vehicle behaviour is more or less as it was.

However I think that the tyre model has changed. I don't think that the change itself is massive, but loss of traction is more pronounced on everything. There's more understeer, more oversteer, and more of both at once (or "none-dersteer", as I occasionally call it). I wasn't really paying attention with the first set of cars because they drive like a dead leg anyway, but when it came to the RWD cars on the licence tests it kind of jumped out at me, and the more I paid attention the more it seemed that it was the tyres specifically.

Maybe - just maybe - Michelin's fabled influence is finally here?

 

[Kean_1]

Not sure if you've seen Super GT's review yet?
As other people have stated, he goes a bit more in depth on the physics changes for GT7 vs GT Sport.

Other members have said that the Team VVV review is more in depth for physics than most of the reviews, however I haven't watched that video yet so I can't confirm that.

I have watched both and each had a lot of good information. .....and yes, TeamVVV does go into some more detail on the physics and summed it up as "huge changes to the physics, a big surprise". Sounds like there is simply more depth and challenge now in that regard.

 

[ScottPuss20]

......read other reviews. The experience of some others is that they feel the physics are a big step up from GT Sport. It's obvious not everyone is coming away with the same perspective on certain aspects.

Not sure if you've seen Super GT's review yet?
As other people have stated, he goes a bit more in depth on the physics changes for GT7 vs GT Sport.

Other members have said that the Team VVV review is more in depth for physics than most of the reviews, however I haven't watched that video yet so I can't confirm that.

My general impression is that it is indeed still very GT Sport-like to drive. I don't think anything major has happened in general vehicle or world physics. Overall vehicle behaviour is more or less as it was.

However I think that the tyre model has changed. I don't think that the change itself is massive, but loss of traction is more pronounced on everything. There's more understeer, more oversteer, and more of both at once (or "none-dersteer", as I occasionally call it). I wasn't really paying attention with the first set of cars because they drive like a dead leg anyway, but when it came to the RWD cars on the licence tests it kind of jumped out at me, and the more I paid attention the more it seemed that it was the tyres specifically.

Maybe - just maybe - Michelin's fabled influence is finally here?

I just watched Super GT's video and it's remedied some of my fears, however with the conflicting information I'm getting, I'm not sold on it yet. Won't have to wait much longer to find out though.

 

[BEBOP_Bill]

Awesome review, I can’t wait to play come Friday! Now let’s see if my 25 anniversary edition arrives in time. I purchased it from PlayStation Director but it still says preparing to ship

 

[CodeRedR51]

I just watched Super GT's video and it's remedied some of my fears, however with the conflicting information I'm getting, I'm not sold on it yet. Won't have to wait much longer to find out though.

Judging how the cars behave on screen, I'd guess there are definitely changes. Their movement looks different, they bounce over curbs differently, etc.

 

[CarreraGT]

Can't wait, although PD's stubbornness when it comes to AI is pretty frustrating

 

[ShiftingGears]

Are there any offline events with opponent liveries?

 

[CHEN255]

This isn’t happening! You can’t just swap out the AI. The whole single player is built around the AI that’s in the game so that would have to be rebuilt too. It’ll be a race Sophy challenge or something and that’s it. I don’t understand why everyone thinks Sophy will just be wholesale plonked into a game that’s been years in the making.

It could be applied to custom races though, which would be absolutely awesome.

 

[Jordan]

Thanks for all the comments, guys.

Are any of you still having issues reading the article? Everything looks OK on my end but I made a few tweaks that might have helped.

I can't get to all of the questions but I will try to address a few.

I have a question, if you don't mind @Jordan . Are drag races at all featured outside of the missions? Would surely be a fun feature to set up our own drag racing, and perhaps drag racing lobbies.

Speaking of, are the lobby setup options copy/paste from GT Sport, or are there some improvements?

No, I didn't see drag racing anywhere outside of the Missions. The lobby/setup options look the same as GT Sport to my eye.

I'm just piling on to the million questions you have @Jordan - but how did you find the money grind? In Sport, it would take about 40-50 hours (possibly more depending) of racing to get one of the cars I wanted like XJ13. Is it the same on 7?

It's been progressively more time consuming to get lots of money with each iteration, but Sport way overcooked it IMO

I found credits fairly easy to come by so far, but I also haven't spent enough time with the game to really study car prices or see how much effort it will take to save for the more expensive cars. I think it's a bit too early for anyone to answer this question yet.

@Jordan Do the cars you select as AI from your garage retain their performance upgrades and livery?

IIRC, no, they just appear in their "stock" form. I recall setting up a custom race with a car I had put custom wheels on and noticed they did not show up on the AI version so I assume it will be the same for liveries.

Why was GT7's effectively always online nature, and especially micro-transactions, not mentioned as drawbacks? The first one especially seems like a massive, major hurdle to the game for no real reason other then spite.

I've just read the review here, and watched the Digital Foundry video on YouTube, and not having a PS5, and so not GT7, the review here seems to minimise the huge black mark against the game in the need to always connected to play a large part of the game, even more so it seems than GT Sport. The review here addresses it, but as I said, minimises it imho. More than game saves seem to be reliant on GT servers, but a lot of the game too, maybe even more that GT Sport, is gone without that internet connection.

Frankly, I have never fully understood the controversy around connectivity requirements. To be clear, I have a lot of sympathy for those who do not have access to reliable connections. I have no doubt it is a massive headache and would make the game difficult, if not impossible, to enjoy. While it certainly deserves a mention for anyone reading whom it might be an issue, I don't see it as a major headline and would never consider it something that would affect a game's reviewed score.

@Jordan so even without updates at the moment, do you in your expert opinion think this is the best Gran Turismo since GT4?

Yes, I do.

GT2 is still my favorite, though.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting that much brutal honesty about the A.I. and campaign mode considering GTP's pretty close relationship with PD. But, I don't think 4.5/5 stars reflects what you said about such a big part of the game; 4/5 seems more fitting.

That's a fair point. I considered knocking a full star off because of the poor AI. The amount of content and customization options are just so overwhelming, though, it felt kind of ridiculous giving it only four stars in a category literally titled "Content and Value for Money".

There aren't many other racing games out there that will give you as much high-quality content for your dollar.

GT Sport leaves me really cold on PS4 Pro, I've barely played it and been out the loop on GT7. I'm surprised to see there's not that much activity on this forum the past two years considering the pandemic and how gaming as exploded. I was hoping to get up to speed on racing wheels but that section is pretty much dead.

GTPlanet has had unprecedented years of growth since 2020 and just set an all-time concurrent traffic record a few weeks ago.

@Jordan Why did you use Screenshots from Sony/PD, and not own ones...?

Because when it's 5:50am, you haven't slept in two nights, the embargo lifts in ten minutes, you've been working on a 5,600+ word article for five solid days, and you're tired of digging through the eight-plus hours of gameplay footage you recorded just to find a screenshot that would be appropriate for a few paragraphs, you eventually say "

it, these pictures from the media kit are good enough".

Thanks for the review @Jordan

I already know the anwser but there is no sign of triple screen / FOV adjustment ?

Ah, I forgot to cover the somewhat interesting new camera options in the in-car camera, but no sign of triple screen support, unfortunately.

@Jordan I do apologize if this has been answered. But I heard some other publications complain earning credits is "really hard" and they said you can't sell vehicles.

How easy was it to earn credits? (does there seem to be a race we can grind for credits for the 20 mil cars?)
Do we get credits for selling cars?

No, you can only "discard" cars of which you have "duplicates".

The best Gran Turismo to date? BIG CLAIM. One thing that concerns me is the physics and saying that it's "a minor iteration from GT Sport" doesn't fill me with much hope. It suggests to me that the issues seen in GT Sport will still persist. Please tell me I'm wrong.

Big claim, indeed. I know what I said.

About the physics...

I haven't played GT Sport much lately and do not play the game competitively so its entirely possible Steve, Alan, and elite players who get their hands on the game this week will have more informed/nuanced opinions in this department. However, I would challenge anyone who says the physics have changed significantly.

I did play GT Sport and GT7 back-to-back while forming my opinion for this review. Physics have improved, no doubt, but it's a minor adjustment at best.

 

[LucasWolf]

Finally a real "Gran Turismo", it was supposed to be like this since 2017.

 

[Benny44]

Thank you @Jordan for answering, not just my question, but all the questions. I've always appreciates this site and all the hard work you and few others put into it. I've been here for a long time, and it's always my go-to. Now, get away from screens and get some rest! The tags and endless questions from us can wait

 

[redhed17]

Frankly, I have never fully understood the controversy around connectivity requirements. To be clear, I have a lot of sympathy for those who do not have access to reliable connections. I have no doubt it is a massive headache and would make the game difficult, if not impossible, to enjoy. While it certainly deserves a mention for anyone reading whom it might be an issue, I don't see it as a major headline and would never consider it something that would affect a game's reviewed score.

OK, I'm talking about GT Sport, because as I said in my post earlier, I do not have GT7 so can't comment with any first hand knowledge of GT7. But it seems with more parts to the game, a greater percentage of the game not being available/playable without an internet connection in GT7.

If the majority of a game is only available with an internet connection, surely you see that that is not complete game all of the time. If a game relies on a server somewhere then you are reliant on the server(s) working, and they can stop working for any number of reasons, cyber attacks being one of them, length of time from release being another, etc.

You are also reliant for an internet connection whenever and wherever you play the game. Internet connections go down for various reasons, including people finances. There's two points of failure, no server or no internet, that decimates massive parts of a game. And because GT7 is larger game than GT Sport, more parts of the game seemingly don't work according to Digital Foundry.

The justification for a permanent online connection is supposedly to stop cheating/hacking, and your saved game progress is also saved online because of this, why does the majority of a game need to not be functional for a small amount of data that records where you are in a game? I don't care if anyone cheats, I worry about my progress, nobody else's.

Why are parts of the game that seemingly have little connection to the racing dependant on a permanent connection? Livery editor, no connection, no use. Having one place for a saved game leaves it vulnerable to failure. There was a glitch at some point for me in GT Sport, and I suddenly was unable to edit a load of liveries I spent many hours creating. That seriously put me off spending a lot of time creating liveries from then on if they could just be inaccessible next time you turn your Playstation on, through no fault of your own. 😲

If I could have saved my progress on my Playstation, and then also backed up to an external device, one corrupted game save should not affect me. Imho, cloud storage is a backup to my backup, not the vulnerable single point of failure beyond my control. And should certainly not be the key to playing the game.

If the worry about hacking/cheating is to do with the online racing, then give me the option to never race online, and then have almost all the game be playable (bar online racing) without the need to be connected to the internet, like all the GT games bar GT Sport have been for 25 years.

And as I said previously, many years down the line, there will be no retro gaming with GT Sport and GT7 when the servers are stopped, regardless whether you have an internet connection or not at the time. On any pre GT Sport game I can still play any time. Some of the older games can be emulated too. Good luck with that in the future.

 

[CHEN255]

Thanks for the review! This one and the one from Super GT have convinced me to get the game, which I wasn't planning on originally. The main reasons that put me over the fence are the fact that physics seems much improved and the time-of-day and wet weather stuff seems to be well done, which are some of the most important bits for me. Unfortunately AI is an issue and I still completely hate the GT UI, but overall it seems like it should be fun to do license tests and race online occasionally. Good thing that loading times are much better on PS5 as that was also a huge annoyance in the past. I do hope they add a Performance RT mode at some point as well.

Alan of Team VVV on YouTube has good things to say about the upgraded physics in GT7. His review along with Jordans convinced me to preorder GT7. I haven't seen Super GT's review yet, I'll catch up with it when I get home from work, it's been in my Watch Later section of YouTube all day. I have tomorrow off work and my wife is away all weekend so I'm going to be putting in some serious time with GT7 over the next 3 days! I do encourage people to go and watch the Team VVV review, I've been subscribed for years and it's one of my go-to's for gameplay and reviews of racing video games.